Abstract
This study was made to establish criteria of leanness in schoolboys and girls by means of allometry ; leanness was defined as lower lean body mass to height. Anthropometric measurements were taken on approximately 8, 700 children ages 6 to 17 years from elementary school, junior and senior high school in northern Kyushu. Percent body fat and lean body mass were estimated from height, body weight and skinfold thicknesses. Allometric equations of lean body mass (LBM) on height (Ht) were calculated for all age groups of both sexes, that is, LBM=2.47×10-5×Ht2.83 for boys and LBM=2.43×10-5×Ht2.82 for girls, respectively. There was a statistically significant sex difference between the two equations, although the relative growth coefficients were apparently similar to each other. Criteria of leanness were determined by the lines at intervals of two standard errors of estimate (2SEE) below the allometric equations, and the subject whose lean body mass was plotted below this line was regarded as lean. Based on the criteria obtained here, subjects combining both leanness and fatness were found.
